Volume 1, Issue 11 Think Sociology! Fall 2012

their insights. This eleventh issue of the newslet- oughts from the Head ter showcases both the diversity of topics pur- Social change in tough times: we are certainly in sued here at UBC, and the importance of the tough times. Good paying jobs are harder to find, contributions. The contributions are often hard- border disputes vex nations, victimization abounds, er to emphasize in the short word counts we and the media ensures we know the sensational demand of colleagues. First you have to know highlights of it all. something the research before my col- Here in these pages are some deeper looks at leagues can detail the outcomes. Demanding social change. Sociologists at UBC, from younger word constraints often limit the latter. faculty to post doctoral students and graduate stu- But if you want more details, find the au- dents share their insights. They are useful insights, thors on our website. Come and visit us at least not just into how the world operates, but also into virtually, and in doing so discover the array of how sociology helps in a myriad of ways to under- talents housed here in the old ANSO building. stand that world and its changing social contours. And come and visit us physically as well—your picture is likely hanging on our walls. Find it, Neil Guppy I continue to be fascinated by the wealth of is- Department Head sues my colleagues pursue, and by the richness of find your old classrooms, and introduce yourself to some new people. Make it an adventure. 

Sexuality and the City in a Post- Era IN THIS ISSUE by Amin Ghaziani

Sexuality & the 1 City... Amin Ghaziani

Discrimination & 3 Social Change C. Elizabeth Hirsh

“Gay enclaves face prospect of being passé.” “Gaybourhood” in Washington Square West, Eggs, Ethics & 4 *is October 2007 front-page New York San Diego’s Hillcrest, Seattle’s Capitol Hill, Ethnography... Times headline predicted the demise of San Toronto’s , ’s Francisco’s iconic Castro district. *e journal- Davie Village, Washington D.C.’s Dupont Heather Walmsley ist lamented, “*ese are wrenching times for Circle, and the entire city of West Hollywood: San Francisco’s historic , with pop- each is an example of a gay neighbourhood— ulation shifts, booming development, and a and each might be on a list of endangered ur- waning sense of belonging that is also being ban species. Marriage & 5 felt in gay enclaves across the nation…as they *ere’s a lot of talk lately about whether Weight ... struggle to maintain cultural relevance.” gay urban villages are vanishing. Unique com- Silvia Bartolic *e social forces potentially unraveling the mercial spaces such as bars, bookstores, and fabric of gay enclaves are not unique to San gay-owned businesses are closing, more Francisco. Boston’s South End, Chicago’s straight singles and families with young chil- Multiculturalism in 6 “Boystown” in East Lakeview, Ft. Lauder- dren are moving in, and gay people and organ- the Margins dale’s Wilton Manors, Houston’s Montrose, izations are dispersing throughout the city. But Lily Ivanova Miami’s South Beach, Montreal’s Village, what exactly does it mean that such a neigh- New York’s Chelsea, Philadelphia’s bourhood is “passé?” More generally, how does

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sexuality inform residential choice (where we choose to live) toire increasingly stretches beyond the delimited streets of and urban forms (the character and composition of an entire just one neighbourhood. *e Castro quote from above is an neighbourhood)? example of this first mechanism through which assimilation My forthcoming book, entitled ere Goes the Gay- affects residential choice. Importantly, this is not exclusively a borhood? (under contract with Princeton University Press), big city phenomenon. Consider Northampton, Massachu- chronicles my quest to find answers. It is a study of the multi- setts, which some people have dubbed “Lesbianville, USA”: ple meanings that gay neighbourhoods—or gaybourhoods, “*ere are other gay enclaves, but there’s no place I know for short—have for people today, how they first acquired where the gay population is so integrated into the communi- those meanings, why those meanings matter, their material ty,” said Julie Pokela, a business owner and former consequences in anchoring urban gay life, how different un- head of the chamber of commerce. derstandings of sexuality affect location and migration pat- *e second mechanism through which assimilation terns, and the future spatial possibilities that lay ahead of us. affects residential choice is that it renders queer sexuality vir- tually indistinguishable from heterosexuality. *e New Jersey *e Closet, Coming Out, and Post-Gay Sexual Eras suburban who I quoted earlier offer one example. Consider as well the remarks of Dick Dadey, executive direc- I find that different cultural conceptions of sexuality explain tor of the Empire State Pride Agenda in New York, “*ere is the variation in gay and straight location patterns and urban a portion of our community that wants to be separatist, [and] forms. *e closet era (pre-World War II) witnessed the devel- to have a queer culture, but most of us want to be treated opment of discrete places where gays would gather such as like everyone is. We want to be the neighbors next door, not public parks, tearooms, and cabarets. *ese were generally the lesbian or gay couple next door.” located in bohemian areas of the city, rather than in neigh- Straights are on board the post-gay train, as well. Here’s bourhoods that we would today identify as a gay enclave. In an interesting excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle : contrast, the coming out era , which dates from WW II to “Straights have always lived and shopped in the midst of the 1997, witnessed the formation and flourishing of formal gay- homosexual colony, of course, but their are increas- bourhoods like San Francisco’s Castro district and West Hol- ing. Two decades of struggle for equal rights have translated lywood, California. into real economic and emotional progress for homosexuals – But something is different today—something that moti- and many heterosexuals. If the need to carve out a gay oasis vated the New York Times to declare the death of the gay- made heterosexuals feel unwelcome 10 or 15 years ago, today bourhood. I argue that we have embarked on a new post-gay straight couples are a common sight on the street. If lesbians era , a time characterized by an accelerated assimilation of gays and gays no longer feel confined to a homosexual safe zone, into the mainstream. *is has many of them seeking resi- straights are less likely to be threatened by same-sex atten- dence outside of traditional gay villages, while straights now tion. Relaxed attitudes about sexual identity have led to a feel comfortably drawn to them. An exemplary gay male San greater permeability in this gayest of neighbourhoods.” Franciscan exclaimed, “We don’t need the Castro anymore because essentially San Francisco is our Castro.” Similarly, a Challenges to the Post-Gay *esis lesbian couple from New Jersey explained, “We’re specifically

not moving into gay neighbourhoods here. Here we’re just I want to be careful not to overstate post-gay effects. One part of a neighbourhood. We weren’t the gay girls next door; way to think about this is to disaggregate the notion of we were just neighbors. We were able to blend in, which is “LGBT people.” For example, during the summer of 2010 what you want to do, rather than have the scarlet letter on when I was interviewing in Chicago, s